Do You Like Chewing Gristle?

I know I'm going to annoy foodies here, but I have to say this. I've been feeling less enthusiastic about trying new restaurants because of what I perceive to be a current culinary obsession with ultra-fatty cuts of meat. I actually could put quotes around the word "meat" without being hyperbolic, because some of what I've been seeing were essentially cuts of fat with a little bit of meat on them. Specifically, I reference the offerings of Highland Kitchen and Five Horses Tavern, both very highly-regarded American fine dining establishments in Somerville.

Please deliver me from pork belly, tasso ham, pancetta, bacon-steak and other vehicles of gristle that have become the shining stars of certain menus. Yes, I know they are all bacon in various unsliced fashions, and I do eat bacon, but I cook it so crisp that it would shatter if tapped lightly on the counter. The food trend seems to favor rubbery gristle, the likes of which makes my stomach ill just looking at it.

I'm not trying to challenge this trend. If you like this sort of thing, by all means enjoy. For me there is still chicken, lean fish and vegetarian dishes, and that's fine, you can have all of the gristle if it tastes good to you. I like steak, though I think I would be afraid to order one nowadays unless I could see it before ordering.

But I'm curious. If you love fatty cuts of meat, what about it do you love? What appeals? And why now are we holding the fattiest cuts of meat up as the gold standard of omnivorous cuisine? Is it the bad economy encouraging us to wean off of leaner and more expensive cuts of meat?

I'm just trying to understand.